This is a forum for people who love horse-racing but love the horses too. We want to make sure that the racing industry puts the welfare and safety of the horses FIRST, despite the financial pressures within the industry that lead to over-breeding, racing the horses to the ground or sending them off to slaughter for a quick, easy and profitable disposal method. We are DEMANDING industry accountability through less breeding, more retirement funding & putting an end to racehorse slaughter.

Friday, May 1, 2009

On May 2nd, many of the world's fastest thoroughbreds will competein the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby. The racetrack success ofthese equine stars was once supposed to guarantee them a safe andlong retirement. But according to Melodee Shelley-Bolmgren, founderof Chez Chevaux, a Washington-based nonprofit thoroughbred rescueorganization, times have never been tougher for these magnificentcreatures.

It's possible — even likely — that one of the horses running inSaturday's race will end up on a dinner plate somewhere overseas.This was, in fact, the fate of Ferdinand who won the 1986 KentuckyDerby and 1987 Breeders' Cup Classic. He was voted the 1987 EclipseAward for Horse of the Year, but later proved unsuccessful as astallion and his economic value dwindled to the price of the meat onhis bones. In 2002, 16 years after he won the Kentucky Derby,Ferdinand was shipped off to a slaughterhouse in Japan with littlefanfare. His death served as the catalyst for the Ferdinand Fee, adonation program to help keep old racehorses alive.Exceller, the only horse ever to beat two Triple Crown winners,which he did in the 1978 Jockey Club Gold Cup, died in a Swedishslaughterhouse in 1997. Phantom on Tour, who ran sixth in the 1997Kentucky Derby, might have met a similar fate if rescue groupshadn't intervened before it was too late.

In part due to the poor economy, donations to rescue organizationsare reported to have reached record lows and thoroughbreds, some ofwhom have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars for their previousowners, are being shipped to Canada and Mexico for slaughter.Without sufficient funds, nonprofits are unable to save these ex-racers.

"What makes this situation even more tragic is that we see so manyhealthy, young thoroughbreds shipped abroad to be slaughtered," saysShelley-Bolmgren.

To help save the lives of thoroughbreds and retrain them for secondcareers as pleasure or show horses, Chez Chevaux has issued a DerbyDay Dollar Challenge. The nonprofit organization hopes to raise$135,000 in recognition of this year's 135th Derby. Shelley-Bolmgrensays she already has an email box overflowing with requests to helphorses that are in dire need.

According to the Humane Society, the United States sent 98,363horses to Canada and Mexico for slaughter last year. As of March 28,2009 17,758 horses had been sent to those two countries forslaughter. Polls have historically shown that the vast majority ofAmericans are against the slaughtering of horses. In Texas (formerlyhome to two of this country's equine slaughterhouses), 72 percent ofthose polled in 2006 said they were opposed to the slaughtering ofhorses for human consumption. That sentiment is shared by mostmembers of Congress.But unfortunately the people's voice isn't always heard or honoredin Congress. In September 2006, the United States House ofRepresentatives approved H.R. 503, the American Horse SlaughterPrevention Act, which would ban the slaughter of horses in theUnited States. However, the bill never made it out of committee inthe Senate. For a multitude of reasons, cattlemen's groups, theAmerican Quarter Horse Association and the American Association ofEquine Practitioners have gone on the record as "pro-slaughter" andhave found ways to keep this practice alive.The recent rise in the number of unwanted and neglected horses inKentucky has renewed the debate over whether reopeningslaughterhouses in the United States (the last ones closed in 2007)would help address the problem.To take the Derby Day Dollar Challenge, please visit Chez Chevaux tomake an online tax-deductible donation. No amount is too small. "Ifenough people contributed even a single dollar to horse charitiesthat would help us save so many animals from certain deaths,"Shelley-Bolmgren says.Facts about horse slaughter:During the last few decades, millions of horses have beenslaughtered in the U.S. and Canada and their meat exported to Europeand Japan for human consumption.It is estimated that a third of all slaughter-bound horses in theU.S. were bred for racing.Thoroughbreds and other horses are often shipped up to 30 hourswithout food or water. When they reach the slaughterhouse, they aredriven into a killing factory and bludgeoned with a four-inch boltgun which drives a spike into their skulls. Their throats are thenslit, often while they are still conscious.Most horses sold at auction are bought by middlemen for slaughterplants; the horses often go straight to slaughter without disclosureto the original sellers.Very little horse meat is used in dog food; some cuts sell for over$20 per pound for human consumption.Do you plan to watch the Kentucky Derby this weekend? I encourageall horse enthusiasts to place your bets on Chez Chevaux or anotherhorse rescue organization for a guaranteed return on your investment.

A Little Bit About Me'Self

Lifetime Student in school of Hard Knocks.Born in Troy NY home of UncleSam,FALLOUT Capital of the Nation(google"The Troy Incident")other places I called home; Tucson & Bullhead City, Az., Seattle,Wa.,Taos,Ojo Caliente &Santa Fe,NM, LasVegas,Searchlight,Goodsprings,Jean,& Laughlin,NV.,San Francisco, Ca.,Portland,Or.,just 2 name a few. Places I have worked are bars, horse & dog tracks and casinos, and, later in life,law firms & with lawyers. Now in retirement,I stay home & mind my little mini-farm. In my spare time I pretty much live vicariously through the wonders of the www. I guess you could say (ala Eddie Rabitt) that I am - bloggin my life away,....lookin for & workin towards a better day, ohhh yeah. But however you look at it, there aint no gettin' around it, I'm jus' an ole' x-hippy-chick, struggling ever "onward through the fog" of life,....still here, still standin,..still laughing, after all these crazy years, and whats more amazing yet, still with at least some functioning brain cells!(Though through absolutely no fault of my own. Thank U geezis or whatever powers that be!)